


Zoning Out

by Gilje



Category: One Piece
Genre: Fluff, Hospital, Illusions, M/M, mental health, zoro is barely 18
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-14
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-01 15:36:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5211299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gilje/pseuds/Gilje
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since his childhood, Zoro kept seeing these golden fishes, swimming around him, disappearing to the distance. Now he's 18, and his parents decided what enough is enough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: unbetaed. English is not my first language, I learned it all by myself, without any teacher's help.  
> I don't know if I will continue this or not, so I leave it as an open question to you guys.

Okay, so Zoro’s mother apparently thought what was enough was enough.

Zoro haven’t really found the case that disturbing – being a true realist, he knew very well that what he was seeing were only illusions. After all, such things as flying fishes didn’t exist in the real world.

He couldn’t really blame her either. As a baby child, he supposed talking about pretty flying fishes was adorable, but as the years went, it turned to annoying and disturbing. If not downright frightening.

Well, now that Zoro had passed his 18th birthday- which was an unspoken deadline from both party – his parents made the steps they thought would be the best for him.

One late afternoon, while they were all watching a rerun of some old, black and white tv show, his father cleared his throat and came up with the case.

It surprised Zoro. He stopped talking about his visions a long time ago, but his parents noticed his zoning outs anyway. Well, he just wasn’t as a good actor as he thought he was.  
And apparently, his parents were worried that there was something more serious behind his… daydreams.

These images were only transparent, unreal to his touch, flying through his fingers. Made of nothing. Some days they looked even weaker than others, pale and silvery, so Zoro thought they will fade by time.

But until that point, he’ll stay in the hospital. Or until he could convince everybody that he’s ”cured”.

Because he didn’t really believed he will ever stop seeing them. And in the privacy of his mind, he really didn’t want to loose them either.

Speaking of mind, it turned out there was nothing wrong with his. That at least eased his mother’s worries a little, as she stroked his fingers through his short green hair and smiled up at him. Zoro was a late child, and he could not notice how short she’d gotten compared to him since he hit puberty. But as she smiled her face creased to small happy wrinkles and her inner cheery personality shone through her skin.

”I’ll come to see you again soon” she promised before leaving. Zoro sighed. His mother couldn’t come every day because of her job, and his father was usually too preoccupied with the store too, but it was fine. Honestly, they were overdoing themselves, and unlike them, Zoro liked being alone . Nothing can prove it more than the increasing amounth of books on his night stand. The only thing he truly missed was his part-time job, but the training room will do it until he could go back to the dojo.

He sit down the floor in the common room, something the nurses were taking as his habit now, even if they were surprised by it at first. Zoro couldn’t wrap his head around why was it so strange though, he just simply felt more connected to the earth like this than using chairs. Even if they were on the third floor. Heh. Well if you look from that point it could look weird isn’t it? But he wasn’t harming anybody, was still being able to make decent conversations – even if he rarely started one – so he supposed the staff was now okay with his ”hobo lifestyle”.

So he sat there, between the chairs and infusion stands and closed his eyes, listening the world around him. He took some deep breaths to prepare himself of the comings.

Today will be his first session with his psychoteraphist. He wasn’t looking for it – honestly it was a waste of time, but he had to perform a perfect act. He only needed to fool this guy and he’ll be free of this place again, and will make sure not to raise any suspicions again.

He’ll keep his fishes to himself.

Zoro countinued his exercise but something bright passed in front of his face. He grimaced and decided to ignore no matter what it was. He shifted his shoulders, and focused a little harder. But something brighter flashed in front of him again, shining through his eyelids, painting little sparkles in his vision. 

Zoro opened his eyes with a frustrated growl, trying to locate the source of his disturbance. But his eyes opened wide when as he saw a bright golden fish swim away in front of him, towards the end of the corridor. It was more bigger and detailed than he have ever seen before, shining bright golden like a lost ray of sunshine.

As he looked, he realized it wasn’t alone. More and more golden fishes kept appearing and swimming towards the doors at the end of the corridor, leaving the young man mesmerized. Ever so slowly, he stood up and followed the strange line. The fishes didn’t seem to care – they were in front and behind him, swimming through his body, coming out from his shoulders and chest, flapping their long fins playfully. He barely realized when he reached the end of the corridor, but the line suddenly turned as if the ray was following something.

 Looking up at the arch, the green haired man’s eyes widened. In front of him, barely a few steps away a tall blond man was standing near the open glass doors, looking at his papers and tapping his lips with his finger. He was obviously deep in his thoughts so he didn’t noticed Zoro’s approach. Or him staring.

The huge ray of golden fishes kept swimming towards him, encircling the man in golden light and slowly disappearing. Only few little babes kept swimming around him as the blonde glanced up, shifting his glasses higher up his nose and smiled unsurely at Zoro.   

”Hello” he said, offering his hand. ”You must be Zoro. I’m Dr. Black, your psychoterapist, but please call me Sanji.”

Zoro felt himself gulp as he nodded, and accepted the hand. The blond shoke it with his smirk widening, and stepped through the doors and past the green haired teen. For a moment, Zoro’s mind went blank and his legs didn’t seemed to do the work either. The blond guy – Sanji? Dr. Black? – glanced back, looking at him with his curly eyebrow raised. His eyes were deep blue behind the thin framed glasses.

”Shall we go?” he asked, nodding towards the consulting rooms.

”Y-yeah” Zoro felt his cheeks warming up a little and nodded, following the white labcoat this time. ”We should.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The madness is spreading

 

 

 

Zoro felt like an idiot. He was also pretty sure he looked like one as well.

Or a creeper.

Because creepers stare don’t they?

Oh yes, they do. So Zoro turned out to be a creeper. This was his life now. But he had a good excuse and it was sitting right in front of him. He would point at the blond like Will Smith did at his wife, but that would be ridiculous and he’d deny he was even thinking about it. Bad imagination.

Even if the pink dress would suit the blond pretty well.

Bad imagination!

”So, Zoro… is it okay if I call you Zoro?” The blond asked, taking off his glasses and leaning forward. The guy’s eye, which wasn’t covered by the stupid bangs – Zoro really hated those particular bangs right now for the crime of obscuring his view -  was so startlingly blue Zoro forgot how to talk for a moment.

”Wow, congratulations on knowing your patient’s name, stupid” was coming out instead, and Zoro was horrified in an instant. His stupid fucking mouth!

The blond’s – Sanji’s? Zoro was sure they’ll be back to Dr. Black now – brows furrowed slightly, and the golden school of fishes surrounded him again. But between the small goldfishes, Zoro recognized some bigger, more dangerous looking ones. The green-haired man had no idea, but they looked mean enough to assume they were predatory ones.

But the blond’s forehead smoothed out again, his lips curling into a small smile.

”Quite the smartass aren’t you? Alright mastermind, what about we start on why you’re here?”

Zoro shrugged.

”The food is awesome.”

This actually made the blond laugh out loud, and if Zoro ever thought he knew the expression „their smile brightens up a room” well, he was definitely re-learning it now. The room almost looked as if it’d turned into an aquarium, bright and warm and golden by the reflections of the different fishes. There was a small clownfish swimming through the therapist’s left arm, making its way to the flock of jellyfishes by the desklamp. There was also a huge shark sliding lazily from behind the blond’s back, making Zoro’s breath catch in his throat for a moment before it peacefully turned and swam through the left wall.

”That’s my old man’s place” the blond’s voice brought him back to the present, and Zoro realized he was looking at the wall as well. But instead of a huge golden predator swimming through it, there was a framed picture of a building hanging on it now. In the middle, there was an ageing guy with an enormous moustache, his bulky arm draped over a short boy’s blond head, giving a thumb’s up with the other. The boy was somewhere around 8 years old and looked grumpy about the physical contact, his leg halfway up to kick the other man.

”The picture was taken shortly after we bought the place. Have you ever been to the Baratie before?”

Zoro recognized that the man was trying to start a conversation. He realized that the scenario had changed due to  the therapist’s mood, so the flock of small happy fishes didn’t distract him too much. Also he was eager to talk to the guy and find out why this strange glowing zoo was being a part of him.

”I think I was there with my family once” he said slowly. ”On my parents’  anniversary.”

”How did you like it?”

Zoro shrugged.

”Can’t quite remember that. Okay I guess?”

The blond hummed.

”And how come you were with them on their anniversary? Were you always that close?”

”Wait,” Zoro lifted an eyebrow ”aren’t you suppose to lie me down on the sofa here or something before the interrogation begins? Like in the movies?”

”The nurses warned me you have the ability to fall asleep on every surface, no matter the circumstances. I figured it would be better to keep you upright.”

That actually made Zoro laugh out loud, a deep rich sound escaping from his chest, making his shoulders shake and squeeze his eyes shut as his head dipped back a little against the back of the chair.

Thus like this, he didn’t see the other man’s eye open a little wider and his mouth going slack, only to take a deep, bewildered breath a moment later.

”What the…?”

”What?” Zoro asked, looking at the man, his brows furrowing in confusion.

”No-nothing” the blond sighed, lifting his glasses and massaging the bridge of his nose under them. ”I think I haven’t… I had a long day yesterday. Maybe it would be better if we continue this another time. Would tomorrow suit you?”

The green-haired man snorted.

”I’ll try to free up some time in my busy schedule for you” he retorted, sass oozing from his words. ”Not like I’m… going anywhere. I’m stuck here until you give me a pass that I’m not a raging lunatic.”

The blond’s mouth curled a little upward.

”Do you have any plans for the next decade?”

 

~

 

Oh gods. Sanji was so fucked.

He swept a hand through his hair as his back hit the door behind Zoro. He turned and looked over his office, feeling dazed, the worry not yet catching up with his nerves. It would soon though, just when the blond had freshly run out of cigarettes.

Maybe those nights at the university were finally catching up with his brain. Or Brook had thought it would be funny to ”spice up” his cigarettes again. He’s going to have to check the ones at home because he really didn’t have any other ideas of what had just happened in the room with that guy. He had to be hallucinating.

There hadn’t been a fucking big tiger in the room before.

Well, in general, tigers don’t dwell in hospital rooms in the middle of the city, for fuck’s sake. Especially not fuckin’ big, shining green ones thank you very much. That was so 80’s anyway.

Yet there it had been, curled up against the guy’s leg, sleeping peacefully with its head resting on his lap.

But as soon as the green-haired guy’s laughter had died down its glow flickered, and faded slowly before disappearing. Sanji swore he could still see the outlines and pinched his nose to clear his mind. And thankfully, it helped his life go back to normal. For the next 35 seconds or so.

His last joke had cracked Zoro up again.

And Sanji stared.

* * *

TBC...? Omg where is this going???

 


End file.
